Wednesday 7.11.2012

DO TANK: SLEEP FOR AFRICA

Photo: Verena Holzgethan & Paul Neuninger

In the installation Sleep for Africa you can take a break, lie down and find refuge in a large comfortable bed placed inside a tent. The sleeping facilities have a voluntary fee and the money which is raised is donated directly to the cultural and developmental project Operndorf Afrika in Burkina Faso, which was initiated by the late German film, theatre and opera director Christoph Schlingensief.

After completing a school run by local teachers, the next task for the project is to build an infirmary that provides basic medical care for the school children and villagers from the region.

Concept: Angelika Fink & Satu Herrala

Installation: Verena Holzgethan & Paul Neuninger

More information: www.operndorf-afrika.com

http://dotankhelsinki2012.blogspot.fi/





ONGOING Reality Research Center (FIN): METAFESTIVAL

Photo: Cvijeta Miljak & Pekko Koskinen

What makes a festival? And what can we do with it?

metaFestival proposes a new kind of relationship to the practice, presence and concept of the festival. It builds a meta-layer around Baltic Circle, observing the festival as a field of possibilities and potential.

During Baltic Circle, you have a chance to encounter Metaists: guides who move in the borderlands between the festival and everyday reality. They will assist you – whether you are an organizer, artist or visitor – to approach the festival in a multitude of ways, from which you can pick your preference. Perhaps you perceive it as an esthetic ecosystem, from which to draw nutrients, hunt for particular prey, or develop new forms of yourself. The Metaists will roam particularly in the more casual spaces of the festival, such as the Lounge and the locales surrounding the performances. They will also process the mediated nature of the festival, fabricating new layers amongst various forms of media.

This method for approaching the festival is a part of Reality Research Center’s development project for Utopian Reality, offering tools for its construction.





DO TANK + Aino Venna (FIN): DO-IT-FROM-THE-HEART-AND-WITH-THE-HIPS CLUB

Photo: Nelli Palomäki

The main act of the night is Aino Venna, a Finnish singer-songwriter. In the autumn of 2011 a band formed around her: Kaisu Koponen (backing vocals, ukulele), Erick Michelsen (double bass), Joonatan Kotila (guitar, banjo) and Ville Pystynen (cajón). Ever since they started playing together, arrangements have become more diverse and compositions have acquired darker tones.

Venna’s performance is low-key and the arrangements simple, but together they are more than the sum of their parts. Their EP Waltz to Paris was released in the spring of 2012 and received a warm welcome. Venna, who has been compared to Leonard Cohen, flirts with the chanson and old rock n’ roll with references to ditties and Italo hits. She draws inspiration for lyrics from times past, from books and from movies. Her main themes are love and rejection. Why? Because love is cruel and we are always alone.

Performance art in the spirit of DO TANK throughout the evening.

Aino Venna: http://www.ainovenna.com/

http://dotankhelsinki2012.blogspot.fi/





Kaja Kann & Juha Valkeapää (EST / FIN): IT SEEMS A GOOD PLACE TO BUILD A HOUSE

Photo: Nico Martens

In Estonia and Finland people believe that a man is not a man if he has not built a house. And once that house is ready, he starts to build a new one. It seems a good place to build a house talks about life, dreams and misunderstandings. Kaja Kann and Juha Valkeapää tell stories in Finnish, Estonian, English and German, accompanied by music, movement, pictures and building a house. Meanwhile they make soup and serve it to the audience.

The first three houses were built at Nordwind Festival in Hamburg in December 2011.

Juha Valkeapää is a Finnish vocal and performance artist whose main instrument is his own voice. He has performed around the world making vocal, sound and performance art. He has also worked in theatre, music and dance as well as created sound installations, soundscapes and compositions for exhibitions, radio, theatre and dance performances. Recently Valkeapää received a five-year grant from the National Council for Theatre for years 2013–17.

Kaja Kann is an Estonian choreographer and director. She has worked with different forms of performing art and her work has been seen worldwide, from New York to Iisaku. She received the Estonian award for Best Dance Choreography in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

It seems a good place to build a house is carried out as a part of the Theatre Touring Network project’s (TEKIJÄ) pilot touring activities. TEKIJÄ is coordinated by Centre for Practise as Research in Theatre (University of Tampere) and partly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) during 2011–2013. The project aims to develope a national touring network and increase collaboration between municipally subsidized theatres and fringe groups. For more information: www.tekija.info

Produced by: Pardimäe Lokaal, Nordwind Festival & Kanuti Gildi SAAL

Supported by: The Cultural Endowment of Estonia & Arts Council of Finland

CREDITS

Concept, performers, music, photos & texts: Kaja Kann & Juha Valkeapää

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Jakob & Pieter Ampe (BEL): JAKE & PETE’S RECONCILIATION ATTEMPT FOR THE DISPUTES FROM THE PAST

Photo: R. Phile Deprez
In the performance thebrothers Jakob and Pieter Ampe start from nothing but the fact that they are brothers, both born in Burundi, both with a lot of good and bad memories from their youth. During the creation process of Jake & Pete’s Reconciliation Attempt for the Disputes from the Past the brothers examined to what extent they can raise each other’s game. It became a study that involves extremes as well as subtleties and a poetic performance that plays with the expectations of the spectator on the verge of catastrophe. Quite apart from this, there is something else that unites these brothers, namely their penchant for facile humour. They cannot wait to share it with you!

Pieter has since become dancer, choreographer and artist-in-residence at CAMPO (Still Difficult Duet 2007, Still Standing You 2010), while Jakob recently graduated as a voice coach and is a singer with The Germans.

A creation for CONNECT CONNECT, international mentor program of Spielart Munich. Director Alain Platel selected Ampe brothers for the project and mentored the duo.

Produced by: Jakob Ampe, Pieter Ampe, mentor Alain Platel, CAMPO, Stuk & CONNECT CONNECT (SPIELART Theater Festival Munich in co-operation with CAMPO  – Gent,  Republique – Copenhagen, Forum Freies Theater – Düsseldorf, Mercat de les Flors  – Barcelona, Tanzquartier  Wien  – Vienna, Baltic Circle  – Helsinki, Theater im Pumpenhaus  – Münster & Münchner Kammerspiele).
Supported by: European Commission
CREDITS
Concept & Performance: Jakob Ampe & Pieter Ampe
Mentor: Alain Platel
Scenography:Jelle Clarisse
Technique: Piet Depoortere

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Lind & Ojanen (FIN): HEIDI KLEIN

Photo: Heidi Lind & Jukka Herttua

Heidi Klein is a performance about names, identities, families, cuckoo-clocks and alpine views. It is a personal story about the lives of Heidi Soidinsalo (formerly Lind) and Anni Klein (formerly Ojanen). Both artists changed their last names for this performance. Why?

How do our names define who we are? What really happens in the novel “Heidi”? What did Goethe mean by “Oh my, but art is long / and our life is fleeting.”? Lind and Ojanen attempt to give an answer to these questions through personal documents in their performance that is inspired by kitsch, trash and Germany.

Anni Ojanen and Heidi Lind both graduated from the Theatre Academy of Helsinki in 2009, Ojanen as a director and Lind as a sound designer.  Ojanen has among others worked in the Von Krahl Theatre and Lind in the group Und er libet. Together Ojanen and Lind have created the perfomances Maamme – Nykykuvia Suomesta (Our Land – Contemporary Images of Finland) (National Theatre 2011) and Play Alter Native (Theatre Viirus 2012). Play Alter Native was nominated for the Antonia 2012 award and is also nominated for the Ääni-Säde 2012 award for best sound design.

Produced by: Lind & Ojanen, Baltic Circle & Centre for Practice as Research in Theatre

Supported by: Arts Council of Finland, Alfred Kordelin Foundation &  TEKIJÄ – Theatre Touring Network project

CREDITS

Concept, Direction & Performing: Anni Klein (formerly Ojanen) & Heidi Soidinsalo (formerly Lind)

Light design: Jani-Matti Salo

Videos: Ville Vierikko

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Reality Research Center & Club Real (FIN & GER / AUT): THE OTHER

Photo: Georg Reinhardt

Four actors and a documentarian meet a stranger. They go to his house, wear his clothes, eat his food, watch his favorite TV shows and reply to his text messages. They go through stranger’s stuff, and make conclusions about him.

The Other is a performance where the viewer meets the born-again inhabitant four times, interpreted by four different actors. It is a performance that takes place in a home where someone lives his complex daily life.

How do we live here? How are we supposed to live here?

Reality Research Center is a performing arts collective based in Helsinki. Their works stem from perspectives that question the surrounding reality through performative means.

The Other is a collaboration performance with Berlin based Club Real group. The artistic instruments deployed in their participatory works are architecture, text and installation.

The Other is carried out as a part of the Theatre Touring Network project’s (TEKIJÄ) pilot touring activities. TEKIJÄ is coordinated by Centre for Practise as Research in Theatre (University of Tampere) and partly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) during 2011–2013. The project aims to develope a national touring network and increase collaboration between municipally subsidized theatres and fringe groups. For more information: www.tekija.info

Produced by: Reality Research Center, Club Real & Baltic Circle
Supported by: Arts Council of Finland  & TEKIJÄ – Theatre Touring Network project

CREDITS

Artists: Tuire Tuomisto, Georg Reinhardt, Marianne-Ramsay Sonneck, Jonna Wikström

Documentation: John Dunn

Producer: Annu Kemppainen

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Heine Avdal & Yukiko Shinozaki (NOR/JPN): FIELD WORKS -HOTEL

Photo: Brynjar Bandlien

Another non-place. Inhabited and yet uninhabited. A home for the night. The television whispering to itself. A minibar. Snoring from neighboring rooms through flimsy walls. The pillow smells of nothing, the towels are white. Someone else will be sleeping here tomorrow.

In their very intimate and playful performance Shinozaki and Avdal create dream-like absurd in-between worlds by means of subtle shifts in reality. Only one visitor per performance is sucked into the mysterious past of this very ordinary hotel room. How many people have stayed here? What happened before we came in? Are we really alone or can we hear the room breathing? Do we remain silent spectators, or do we become a character in a story?

Heine Avdal studied dance, choreography and video in Oslo and Brussels. He has worked as a performer for various companies in Norway. Yukiko Shinozaki studied classical ballet in Tokyo, contemporary dance and psychology in the U.S. She worked as a freelance dancer as well as performing her solo works at various venues. Since 2000 they have been frequently doing collaborations together. Currently their latest creations you are here, Field Works -hotel and Field Works -office are touring in Europe and Asia.

Produced by: Heine Avdal & fieldworks vzw, Nordic Excellence Network (BIT Teatergarasjen, Black Box Teater, Teaterhuset Avantgarden, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Festival Perfect Performance, Dans & Teater Festival Göteborg, Kulturhus Århus & Lʼanimal a Lʼesquena) & Kaaitheater

Supported by: Norsk Kulturråd, Fond For Lyd og Bilde, Fond for Utøvende Kunstnere, Norwegian Foreign Ministry & Vlaamse Gemeenschap

CREDITS

Concept and Direction: Heine Avdal, Yukiko Shinozaki

Performed and Created by: Heine Avdal,  Fabrice Moinet

Sound design and electronics: Fabrice Moinet

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Ant Hampton & Tim Etchells (UK): THE QUIET VOLUME

Photo: Ant Hampton

The Quiet Volume is a self-generated and ‘automatic’ performance (Autoteatro). Two audience members / participants sit side-by-side. Taking cues from words both written and whispered they find themselves burrowing an unlikely path through a pile of books. The piece exposes the strange magic at the heart of the reading experience, allowing aspects of it we think of as deeply internal to lean out into the surrounding space, and to leak from one reader’s sphere into another’s.

Ant Hampton is a performance maker, writer and director. He founded Rotozaza -project (1998-2008), that has explored the use of instructions given to unrehearsed ‘guest’ performers, both on stage and, more recently, to the audience themselves (Autoteatro). Since 2008 he has initiated a number of collaborations. The Autoteatro series continues with a growing number of solo projects and collaborations.

Tim Etchells is an artist and a writer based in the UK. He has worked in a wide variety of contexts and is the artistic director of the world-renowned performance group Forced Entertainment.

Commissioned by: Ciudades Paralelas, a festival produced by HAU Berlin and Schauspielhaus Zürich, in collaboration with Goethe-Institute Warschau & Teatr Nowy, in coproduction with Vooruit Arts Centre, Belgium.

Supported by: Kulturstiftung des Bundes, the Swiss Cultural foundation Pro Helvetia & Goethe Institute Buenos Aires
CREDITS

Artists: Ant Hampton & Tim Etchells

Voices English version: Ant Hampton, Seth Etchells & Jenny Naden
Artistic production: Katja Timmerberg
Binaural recordings: TiTo Toblerone

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DashNdem (UK): SHOW YOUR SISU

Photo: Jeff Osbourne

Sisu is something essential for understanding the Finnish character. It is the ability to keep fighting after most people would have quit. Show Your Sisu takes over a variety of media using the format of a TV talent show and invites the public to explore what sisu has come to represent in the contemporary Finnish culture.

Show Your Sisu will be launched with a campaign to encourage candidates to compete by creating videos demonstrating why they should be the new face of sisu. Contestants can do anything as long as they do it with sisu!

All participating videos will be judged allowing the public to vote and comment online, both on the official website and through other forms of social media. The live final of Show Your Sisu will take place at Baltic Circle Festival where a panel of judges will crown the winning contestant as the Face of Sisu.

Dash Macdonald and Demitrios Kargotis have been working in collaboration since graduating from the Royal College of Art. Their practice explores and exposes the effect of existing socio-political systems and institutional mechanisms. Macdonald and Kargotis teach at Birmingham City University and their work has been exhibited internationally.

Follow the project and submit your video on the website www.showyoursisu.com.

Produced by: Baltic Circle in co-operation with Stadi.TV

Supported by: Birmingham City University

CREDITS

Artists: DASHNDEM – Dash Macdonald & Demitrios Kargotis

Curator: Aura Seikkula / Curator’s statement

Graphic designer: Jeff Osborne / Lemon Grenade

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